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Use your voice to 2x your BD results
And leave cold messaging as a back-up
Tal Zamir
March 30, 2025
Hi friends 👋🏻
Today’s edition is all about cold outreach, with a focus on voice notes on LinkedIn and a story about how meeting my wife on OKCupid helped break through to a prospect this week.
Would love to hear what’s working for you these days!
And whatever you’re doing — keep going! 💚
Tal
In today’s edition you’ll find:
Use your voice to 2x your BD results
Story time - “I respect the grind 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻”
⏳ Estimated reading time: 8-10 minutes
Let’s go! 🚀
Use your voice to 2x your BD results
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how we, as recruiters, use our voices.
Recruiting is full of high-impact conversations: 🎙️
Interviews
Storytelling
Client pitches
Negotiations
And one area where I’ve been experimenting - and seeing results (!) - is using my voice for cold BD outreach. 🎤
To bring the point home, I found this post about the effectiveness of voice vs. text in cold outreach.
The finding: 👇🏻
LinkedIn voice messages are 2x more effective than LinkedIn text messages!
Turns out, voice IS a secret weapon. 🕵🏻♂️
And underutilized, I would argue!
And, if you use it well, you can stand out, build stronger relationships, AND 2x your BD success. 🚀
Why lead with your voice in BD?
When we write, we rely on words alone to communicate. 📝
But when we speak, we add layers of persuasion – tone, emphasis, and warmth.
That human connection is powerful. 💪🏻
Think about it: when you receive a cold email or LinkedIn message, it’s easy to skim (and ignore).
But a voice message? That makes you pause. It’s personal. It’s different.
Question: When was the last time you received a LinkedIn voice message and you DIDN’T respond? 🧐
Yep, it’s hard to ignore.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve found that integrating voice into my LinkedIn BD efforts has led to:
✔ Higher response rates
✔ More trust from the start
✔ More conversions
Here are three ways we can leverage our voices for cold BD outreach:
Voice Notes on LinkedIn
Voicemails via Phone
Cold Calling
And, to be fully honest & transparent, I’ve only started to scratch the surface with #1 – and am looking to test + integrate #2 and #3 in the future.
Let’s break them down. ☕️
1. LinkedIn Voice Notes: My recent BD gem
I’m convinced LinkedIn voice notes are one of the easiest ways to stand out in BD outreach these days. ⚡️
Because very few recruiters are using them.
Because…they work!
How LinkedIn voice notes work
You need to be 1st-degree connected with the recipient (so this works for someone already in your network).
It only works on LinkedIn's mobile app - you won’t see this feature on your desktop browser. 📱
To send a voice note on LinkedIn:
Open the LinkedIn mobile app 📲
Go to the person's profile and tap "Message"
Tap the microphone icon 🎙️
Hold down the blue button, record your message, and release to send
Careful (!): There’s no redo button. ⚠️
Once you let go of that button, the message sends instantly. (Which can be nerve-racking the first few times.) 😬
Oh, and you’re limited to 1 minute – so wrap up at 50 seconds or you might get cut off!
My Secret Weapon: Kondo App
I’ve mentioned Kondo here in the past.
It’s my go-to for 99% of my LinkedIn messaging now.
And I discovered that it's brilliant at sending voice notes as well. 🤓
The benefits of using Kondo:
It’s an app on my desktop (where I spend most of my working day) 🧑🏻💻
It lets me record, review, and re-record before sending (which is a game changer!) 🎧
It works seamlessly with LinkedIn’s native voice notes feature. 💪🏻
If you want to dip your toe into voice BD without the fear of instant-send mistakes, Kondo is my favorite option (and you’ll get a free 2-week trial).
Building automations with LinkedIn DM voice
Want to create automations that use LinkedIn voice notes? 🤖
I’ve heard good things about La Growth Machine and how it allows you to build automations including a LinkedIn voice message.
And the automations can be personalized - their tech uses your voice to customize the first part of the message to the recipient.
In summary, this is how I use LinkedIn voice notes:
✔ Keeping in touch with my network
✔ Following up after a connection request
✔ Engaging a cold prospect
✔ Keeping BD conversations warm
✔ Any conversation that seems to be stalled and I want to infuse some energy into
And some tips/tricks I use in my voice notes:
I use the phrase “put a voice to my name.”
I reference a recent post or comment they made that resonated with me.
I mention that their last post hit my LinkedIn feed.
I offer myself as a resource, ally, or advisor in their hiring process.
🔥 Why This Works: LinkedIn voice notes are easy to use and underutilized by recruiters (and everyone else on LinkedIn) - there’s still an opportunity to stand out (and this might not last for long). And our voices are strong - we use them every day in our work - make them work for you in BD!
2. Voicemails: The middle ground between LinkedIn voice notes and live cold calls
Are your prospects (or candidates) not super active on LinkedIn? 🧑🏻🔧
And you’re not quite ready for full-on cold calling? Me neither!
Voicemails can be a great in-between strategy.
This is similar to a LinkedIn voice note but to a phone number. ☎️
If you want to avoid calling the recipient, there are tools that let you send voicemails straight to someone’s inbox (without ringing their phone!).
Two voicemail tools I found
Slydial – Sends you straight to voicemail without ringing the person’s phone. And has a feature for group calling too (send the same message to a big recipient list).
Slybroadcast – Allows you to send bulk voicemails at scale. Perfect if you want to drop a personalized message to multiple prospects at once.
I’d love to hear from you:
Have you tried sending messages straight to voicemail? 🙋🏻♂️
Do you have a favorite tool you use?
I’m excited to try this in the coming weeks & months — and plan on reporting back!
3. Cold Calling: don’t call it a comeback
I’ll be honest - I’ve never made a cold call in my life (unless you count calling a restaurant for a take-out order?). 🍕
But here’s the thing: In an era where inboxes are overflowing with automated messages, cold calling is seeing a renaissance.
The biggest BD pros I know? They’re picking up the phone.
Why cold calling IS making a comeback
✔ Less competition (much less!) – Fewer people are doing it, so you stand out.
✔ Immediate feedback – You can gauge interest in real-time.
✔ Builds stronger relationships – A real conversation creates trust faster.
If you’re like me and not a natural cold caller, these resources can get you started:
Benjamin Dennehy – Sales trainer known for cutting through the noise with direct, no-BS tactics.
Underdog Sales – Great practical tips for recruiters getting into cold calling.
🔥 Why This Works: Direct human-to-human contact is the fastest way to book a meeting. And in some really challenging industries, it might be the only way to get someone’s attention.
Final Thoughts: why this matters
The world is overloaded with written content. ✍🏻
You know it in your head and your heart.
LinkedIn DMs, cold emails, InMails – everyone’s inbox is full. 🗑️
But using your actual voice?
That’s different. That’s personal. That gets noticed. 💚
Here’s what I’d challenge you to do this week:
📌 Try sending 10 LinkedIn voice notes to your connections.
Test it out. See what happens.
And if you get results, I’d love to hear about it.
🚀 Your voice is a BD multiplier. Start using it.
Story time - “I respect the grind 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻”
Do you ever feel like you’re bothering people when you follow up? 🫣
Yeah… me too.
I’ve never had that natural “sales energy.”
But something shifted this past week.
Just a little. Maybe a lot. Time will tell.
Here’s the story (and how meeting my wife on OKCupid helped):
I’ve been going after a BD lead pretty strategically. 😎
A founder of a company / lead accepted my LinkedIn connection via a Dripify campaign.
I tracked his posts and saw he was headed to a conference in Vegas.
I DM’d him a LinkedIn note about my own days going to CES in Vegas.
Crickets.
I waited a week (he was at the conference).
I sent a LinkedIn voice note. 🎙️
He replied: “Reach out to my cofounder Michael.”
Michael and I weren’t connected, so I sent him an InMail.
He responded with his calendar link. I booked the call.
(And I was stoked!) 🥳
Then… he no-showed. 😭
But messaged: “Sorry, got caught up. Talk to Nick - he runs People for us.”
I reached out to Nick.
Two days later, I heard back - he’s on paternity leave.
I sent a nice note back.
Four days pass. Crickets.
I send voice + email updates to both founders.
Michael replies: “Nick’s on pat leave - recruiting’s been a top priority for Nick.”
[Me thinking: yeah, that’s why I’m working this so hard] 🙃
My response: “How can I support your team while he’s out?”
Crickets.
Three days later, I send a follow-up email starting with:
“When I met my wife on OK Cupid, she said my follow-up was a really attractive quality :)”
Michael replies in 20 minutes: “OKCupid analogy: you’re looking to date Nick, not me!”
I responded: “Thanks for playing! I’ll follow up with Nick :)”
Later, Michael adds: “I respect the grind 🙏🙏🙏”
🫠 + 🤯
End scene 🎬
My Takeaway
The more I followed up, the MORE respect I earned. 🤩
So here’s what I’m learning:
Everything’s a test.
Your cold email is a test. ❗️
Your follow-up is a test. ❗️❗️
Your creativity, tone, persistence - they’re all tests. ❗️❗️❗️
And sure, you may never know your “test score.”
But practice acing the tests anyway. 🏋🏻
Because your next touchpoint might matter more than the last - in ways you won’t see coming.
So keep going. Keep testing. Keep showing up.
The right people will notice. 🙏
P.S. I’m still waiting for Nick to get back to me… 😣
P.P.S 👇
P.P.P.S. - There’s also a lesson here about picking up the phone and calling them (cold) to stop the email run-around. Note to self! (see this related post)
P.P.P.P.S. - The story about my wife and meeting on OKCupid is 100% true! 😀